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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Duterte camp in panic mode over confidential funds --- ex-OVP spox

Duterte camp in panic mode over confidential funds --- ex-OVP spox

Published Oct 12, 2023 01:22 am

Are the Dutertes in “panic mode” amid Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte’s controversial multi-million confidential funds, which the House small committee just removed from the proposed P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024?

VPSD_Barry.jpg(From left) Vice President Sara Duterte and former lawmaker Barry Gutierrez (OVP photos)

This was what lawyer Barry Gutierrez, ex-spokesperson of former vice president Leni Robredo and an ex-Akbayan lawmaker, claimed in his post on X (formerly Twitter) after former president Rodrigo Duterte came out to defend his daughter.

“You know they're in panic mode kung kahit ‘yung matanda ay nilabas na to do what he does best: manakot at paguluhin ang usapan (You know they're in panic mode when even the old one is out to do what he does best: scare people and confuse the issues),” he wrote.

The elder Duterte, in an interview on SMNI, said that the Vice President intended to use her proposed confidential funds to make basic military training compulsory again for high school and college students.

He also apparently advised the younger Duterte to be upfront about her plans of using the funds against “communists,” red-tagging once more ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, who first shed light on the Vice President’s confidential funds.

Gutierrez brought his followers attention to the fact that even the elder Duterte failed to explain where the confidential funds assignerd to his office were spent.

“Ang klaro, wala pa rin silang sagot sa simpleng tanong: saan niyo ginastos ang bilyong bilyon na confidential funds (What’s clear is they do not have an answer to the simple question: where did you spend your billions in confidential funds)?,” he stressed.

In his post, Gutierrez also shared a tweet from former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of the former president.

“What Congress did in removing the confidential funds of VP Sara is a bold and courageous move. Now, Duterte just came out trying to bully people into submission again. Hold your ground! ICC lang katapat nyan, magtatago ulit yan sa kulambo nya (He’ll fold to ICC, he’ll hide under his mosquito net once more),” he wrote, referring to a viral photo of the former Chief Executive sleeping under a mosquito net.

The former president’s interview came after the House appropriations committee announced that it is stripping Duterte’s combined P650-million—P500 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P150 million for the Department of Education (DepEd)—proposed confidential funds for 2024.

These funds would be realigned to agencies concerned with ensuring security in the West Philippine Sea.

Meanwhile, annual audit reports from the Commission on Audit (COA) from 2016 to 2022 showed that the local government of Davao City during Duterte’s tenure as mayor had been allocated a staggering P2.697 billion in confidential funds, or P460 million a year.

This amount was larger than the confidential funds received by the country’s wealthiest cities, such as Quezon City (P435 million) and Makati City (P1.25 billion).

Related Tags

OVP Barry Gutierrez Confidential funds VP Sara Duterte DepEd Rodrigo Duterte
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